May 20 (Bloomberg) -- Credit Suisse Group will relocate Vikram Gandhi, head of its global financial institutions group, to Hong Kong from New York this summer to tap growth in Asia, according to an internal memo sent to Bloomberg.

Gandhi will continue to oversee the Americas business while spending ``considerably more time in Asia and Europe going forward,'' Jim Amine and Marc Granetz, co-heads of global investment banking, wrote in the memo. Gandhi, who is 46 today, joined the Zurich-based bank in 2005 from Morgan Stanley.

Credit Suisse, Switzerland's second-biggest bank, plans to increase investment bankers in the Asia-Pacific region outside of Japan by at least 26 percent this year to tap the growth in takeovers and share and bond sales, according to Paul Raphael, head of investment banking for the region. Asia is home to the world's fastest-growing major economies, China and India.

``As part of our ongoing commitment to transfer talented bankers to other regions, Asia Pacific will benefit greatly from having a banker on the ground with Vikram's experience and client relationships,'' Amine and Granetz wrote in the memo. ``We are going to continue to align our best bankers with areas of highest potential growth.''

Deutsche Bank AG, Germany's biggest bank, announced in March it will move its global head of equity trading, Noreddine Sebti, from New York to Hong Kong.

Citigroup, Morgan Stanley

Citigroup Inc., the biggest U.S. bank, transferred Ted Kuh, global co-head of investment banking for the retail industry, to Hong Kong from London. Morgan Stanley's former chief economist Stephen Roach last year moved to the city from New York to become the firm's Asia chairman.

Credit Suisse shot to sixth place in the mergers and acquisitions advisory market in the region this year, up from 19th in 2007, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Its ascent was helped by the takeover of Dyno Nobel Ltd., the world's second-largest explosives maker, by Incitec Pivot Ltd., Australia's biggest fertilizer maker, and the S$4.24 billion ($3.1 billion) acquisition by China Huaneng Group of Temasek Holdings Pte.'s power assets.

Credit Suisse is the fifth-largest manager of share and equity-linked debt sales this year in Asia, with 6 percent market share, up from 5.6 percent in 2007, according to Bloomberg data. It also leaped to become the fifth-biggest arranger for bond sales in dollars, euros and yen in Asia- Pacific region outside of Japan this year, from No. 14 last year.

Credit Suisse recorded 2.15 billion Swiss francs ($2 billion) of losses in the three months ended March 31, its first quarterly loss in almost five years, following 5.3 billion francs of writedowns linked to deteriorating credit markets.

Underwriting and advisory revenue at the investment bank more than halved to 704 million francs, and revenue from equities trading slumped 36 percent to 1.34 billion francs because of a proprietary trading loss.

To contact the reporter for this story: Patricia Kuo in Hong Kong at pkuo2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 20, 2008 02:45 EDT